384 A rctic and A ntarctic Exploration [part i 
Discovery/' and subsequently Einar Mikkelsen very 
gallantly undertook the enterprise, but with inadequate 
means. He was only able to show his pluck, energy, 
and resourcefulness. He made a fine journey over the 
ice to the northward of the Alaska coast, and ascertained 
the position of the edge of the continental shelf. He 
encountered a wide lane of water stopping his return, 
but at once set to work to contrive a means of crossing, 
and succeeded. The difficulties Mikkelsen overcame by 
his resourcefulness and the way in which he met disasters 
proved that, with funds at his command, he was fitted 
for the leadership of a large expedition. At the same time 
that the gallant young Dane was struggling with adversity,, 
including the loss of his little vessel, Mr Harrison was 
doing excellent geographical work in the delta of the 
Mackenzie River and making himself thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the Eskimo inhabitants. The discovery 
of this region was later undertaken by the Government 
of Canada, but the expedition ended in failure. 
We may now look back on all the expeditions, 
extending over more than a thousand years, that we 
have passed in review, and sum up the result as regards 
Arctic lands. The islands on the continental shelves 
and the bordering continental lands must be regarded 
as comprising the whole of the terrestrial Arctic Regions, 
and geographers should look upon problems connected 
with those regions from that point of view. On the 
Siberian side the shelf is described to us from careful 
personal observation by Nansen. We see the group 
of New Siberian Islands rising from it, with their mam- 
moth ivory and cliffs of fossil wood. We then contemplate 
the land masses of Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, 
and Spitsbergen rising from the Barentsz and Kara Seas, 
with the marvellous tale they tell of the former condition 
of the region in recent geological times. Next, on the 
further side of the great southerly ice-stream, is the 
continental mass of Greenland, with its glaciation only 
surpassed in grandeur and extent by the Antarctic ice- 
cap. Then come the somewhat analogous land masses 
of Baffin and Ellesmere Islands, with the separating 
straits and channels, and finally the intricate Parry 
Archipelago to the north of the American continent. 
